


tv timeout 3/26/17

by bestliars



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Minnesota Wild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 19:30:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10497969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bestliars/pseuds/bestliars
Summary: It's not the pep talk he hoped for.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so this happened: https://twitter.com/russostrib/status/846054470001836034
> 
> and then ionthesparrow said, "wouldn't a whole story that takes place inside that moment be cool?"
> 
> and I guess that's what I did?

Jared is trying to think about... not the last shift but the hockey game in general. Not whether Dani is going to want him to stop and buy milk on the way home, it seems like they're always out of milk, or almond milk, or coffee creamer. Not the conversation he had with Marco on the plane last night. Not the last shift, which is something to forget about and move on from, but the game as a hole, playing with Suts again after two games split up, the last game he'll play in the Joe Lewis Arena, which he used to watch on tv and dream about. It's kind of a dump now days, but the kind of dump dreams are made of. 

He's trying not to think about dreams, just the game they're playing, but not the last shift. 

He's startled by Dubs hand on his shoulder. "Come on. We're gonna huddle." 

Jared is not going to argue with his goalie. He lets himself get dragged over to the bench. Suts is already there. Suts has got his shit together. He isn't spacing out — he has an A on his jersey and doesn't need to be bodily hauled across the ice by his goalie. 

Maybe that would do him some good though. Do all of them some good. Spurg can imagine how much Dubnyk would like that, to put them all exactly where he wants them.

Jared wouldn't mind having someone there to pull him around at put him in his place all of the time. It might make things simpler. That kind of logic is why he got married, kinda.

Dubs actually has something to say, he isn’t just giving them a pep talk because they’ve sucked lately. Honestly, Jared is a little disappointed. He bets Dubs would give a fucking phenomenal pep talk. It would be a lot of threatening them to not fuck up. He could be really scary if he tried. Maybe that would help. They need something.

Instead he’s just letting them know that he isn’t going to set the puck up behind the net for them because there’s already been too many weird bounces. That’s a safe move. If Dubs stays in his net there are less opportunities for him to fuck up. 

Jared thinks back to the goal from the game earlier in the week where Dubs more or less misplayed the puck into their own net. They actually won that one, but it’s probably wise to avoid that sort of shit. Probably better not to make the same mistake twice.

You’re always going to make mistakes, but you’re supposed to learn from it, not make the same mistake over and over for several years. That’s _bad._ Almost _impressively bad._ Jared should feel worse about it.

Marco isn't smirking, but he's doing this thing with his face that isn't helpful. It isn't distracting, because Jared is a professional, but it's _something_ and that's unnecessary. Jared is a 27 year old professional, soon to be a father of three, but Marco can do these things with his face that are just... not necessary at all. 

There's a fading bruise under his eye. Last night, after they landed in Detroit, Jared called his wife, and then he fell asleep watching Food Network in Marco's bed. 

He woke up at one in the morning, and went back to his own room. And now they’re here, listening to their goalie’s tell them how to be better. Jared’s trying. He’s really been trying. At all of it. 

It’s just been hard lately, the way everything gets hard at the end of March, when everyone’s tired, and the weather can’t decide what it’s doing. The monotonous stress of the season is wearing thin, yet to be replaced by the exhilarating stress of playoffs. It gets rough, and there are a lot of things to not think about too closely. And then there’s everything else. 

Jared is not all of the sudden going to have an epiphany in a TV timeout. And even if he did, it’s not like there’s time to do anything about it. The break is already over. They have to skate down to the other end, and line up for the face-off. He has to focus. There are so many things to not think about.


End file.
